TgiBlack friday

I know, I know...

Witty, right?

I can't take credit for it though.

My friends over at dealcatcher actually coined the phrase when they built tgiblackfriday.com.

But wittiness aside, I figured you would be hankering for a Black Friday recap from someone who seriously enjoys this almost as much as that dang Target lady.

And since I wouldn't want to let you down...

Most of you, I'm sure, were aware of the ridiculousness that was Black Friday shopping this year. And by that I mean the Black Thursday/ Thanksgiving craze.

So many mixed emotions about the retailers'decision to do what they did by starting things on Thanksgiving...but I'm not here to talk about the degradation of family holidays or the fact that I willingly took part in such a fiasco....

Nope.

I'm here to talk DEALS.

Because that's what this momma scored.

My shopping started around 3 pm....

Thursday.

Online.

I don't know if you heard, but I recently moved.

Leaving behind my washer and dryer.

And lowes had them on sale.

The pair for $698 with free shipping.

Which means shopping online....

Which ALWAYS means Ebates will pay me back....

Pretty sweet huh?

But the deals didn't end there...

8:30 pm found my sister in law and I in walmart trying to find the items on our wish list....

And at 10 pm, I had scored a $30 storage ottoman, 6 sets of fleece pj's for $4.97 each, an elmo back pack for $7, a kiddie chair for the little man for $18, a $20 train set for someone who may or may not be a little obsessed with choo choo's, and a wide variety of uber cheap chick flicks.

Then we headed to Target.  Where this very round, very pregnant, very cranky momma stood outside for over an hour without a coat in subarctic temperatures with my Michigan toughened sister in law who barely noticed the frost forming on the ends of our noses.  But soon enough, we were in the doors and hunting for the bargains.

Within 10 minutes we had scored $3 kiddie hats, a $25 king sized duvet with a free cover, a $25 fire pit, and more cheap chick flicks.

By that time I was feeling very much like Jack from Titanic...you know, before the ice berg blew everything up. I was unstoppable. Queen of the world, even. Less than 12 hrs and enough money saved to make China think twice about questioning their investment.

Next came Belk. You northerners won't know what I'm talking about, but think a middle aged Kohl's sans Kohl's cash. It's a happy place. And I scored some pretty epic deals...including but not limited to $90 boots for $20. I had to suffer through a few moments of severe claustrophobia that only the likes of a twi-heart waiting to meet Robert Pattinson on opening day could ever understand, but $20 boots are soooo worth it.

Next it was Penneys for another few epic deals-I mean seriously, pashmina's for $6....

And then, finally, breakfast.

And guess what? I totally pulled a Jack from Titanic and fell asleep in my ice water.

Because apparently, momma can only handle so much excitement on 1 hour sleep.

Are we surprised? Really?

All in all, I call it a success!!!

So much to say...

There's an end in sight...or a beginning... However you would view it.

What I'm trying to say is that as of Thursday, we will be living in a house....  As in by ourselves....  As in unpacking our stuff and calling the place home until spring at least.

No more living out of a suitcase.

I know it sounds less than awesome, but trust me, when you've been watching youtubed mickey mouse on your ipad for 3 months, a real live house with a real live tv to watch Disney channel can really be heavenly.

I wish I had a pic to post of our new home, but this baby is stealing my brain cells and in case you haven't noticed, I keep forgetting I have a blog. Oops!

What I do have pics of?

Well...

What can I say? this is life right now...

Should I Stay or Should I Go

Man oh man. This week has been nothing if not exciting.

We started looking at houses to buy.

Then we looked at houses to rent.

Then we decided not to travel for Thanksgiving.

Then we decided I would travel with the baby.

Then Techy decided he was going to go too.

Then we were leaving today.

Now we are leaving tomorrow.

Buy one thing that hasn't changed?

Momma's going black Friday shopping.

Because no matter what, some things will NEVER change!

Weekly Weigh-In: Pregnancy Update #5

Ugh.

I don't know if I should still even be posting these.

But alas, someone's gotta stay accountable.

You wanna know the dirty awful truth, dontcha?

Ugh.

Ok, but before we talk numbers, let's talk beauty.

And ROTUNDNESS.

Please tell me you think I look smaller this time.

I will be your best friend forever.

And bake you a cake.

For the record, I personally think I look smaller this time.

But it's kinda hard to tell from this angle.

I actually have been working out, though, so that's a huge improvement, right?

Anyway, moving on to numbers.

Today, at 27.5 weeks, I am sitting at...

Which is precisely 30.4 lbs above my pre-pregnancy weigh in.

No.  I am not satisfied with this number.

But in my defense, in the last 2 weeks, I have only gained 2.4 lbs.

Which is almost my goal, right?

And really, isn't almost good enough???

More than Enough

Please pardon yesterday's post...I promise I can spell better than that.

You may also have to pardon today's post as well since typing on my iPad tends to lead to less than accurate phrasing or autocorrects that make people wonder why I even bothered.

For those of you who wondered about the house situation, here's a little info in what's going on in our world.

We listed our house for almost $20,000 less than we bought it for, knowing that this market was horrific.

Luckily, we had it some money down when we bought it, though. Something that may never happen again...

So when the original offer came in a good 15k lower than our asking price and with 10k settlement help, we could at least consider it.

And with a little negotiating, we wound up under contract.

But then the dreaded inspection...

And that awful garage floor...

And just to keep things interesting, what's say we add in an FHA inspector?

Fun, right?

If your idea of fun is a picnic in a fire ant infested park with a screaming 2 year old....

Or maybe having a cavity filled?

Anyway, you get the idea right?

We were dreading the inspection.

And rightly so.

Because at the end of the day, we were facing something we had never even considered...

A garage floor would have been expected...

But they wanted us to replace all the pipes in the house because they were prone to leaking...

Read that again...

PRONE to leaking.

As in not actually leaking.

As in this type of pipe may leak and therefore, blah, blah, blah....

And the price tag?

$5,000.

Oh and that doesn't even factor in the costs of drywall repair...that's just pipes.

Now, here's where I tell you the reality of it all.

You see, part of me, a very small part, believed deeply - to the core of my soul - that this crazy endeavor of ours was an ornate plan designed by God for something bigger. I don't know what, but SOMETHING.

So on Friday, when we got the call I sat in stunned confusion.

And yet, I still believed.

I refused to give up.

And on Sunday, when the chords of "Our God is Greater" started, tears were rolling down my face.

Because I knew.

I believed.

I was so sure that this was Him.

Giving me the opportunity to trust.

So on Monday when that phone call came, verifying that the would-be buyers had accepted our last ditch efforts of throwing another (our last) $2,000 at them, I wasn't surprised.

I was thankful.

And when I pulled into my kids non-Christian daycare and saw that they had updated their sign to say this...

My only thought was, "He really is, isn't He?"

No one promised this journey would be easy or leave us not wanting for anything.

But I can't help but believe He is all over this.

And that's enough for me.

This Bumpy Ride

We've beenonan emotional, house-selling roller coaster since Friday.

I'm exhausted and Techy is all negotiated out.

But I'm happy to say that we are good to go.

As of December 27,2012, my house will no longer be mine.

I would love to sit down and type out all the details for enquiring minds, but alas...

Time just does not allow....

Soon, though.

Soon.

My Honest Opinion: Veteran Veneration

Veteran's Day.

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So much to be thankful for.

So little time.

For the then...

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And the now...

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Thank you to those who serve.

Who sacrifice.

And lest we forget...

Their families who pay the price while they are gone.

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May we keep them ever in our prayers and our hearts, and strive to remember them more than just this one day a year.

Helpful How-To: Time to Start Thinking about Presents!!!

I have very little control over anything in my life right now.

So it helps to focus on the things I can control.

Like Christmas shopping.

And gift wrapping.

We all know how much I enjoy that part, right??

Well, thanks to Pinterest, this year I have so many new obsessions with gift wrapping....

And rather than giving you a tutorial, I thought I would picque your interest with the stuff that has been bouncing off the inside of my brain lately.

Enjoy...

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And now, I am just anxious to get some gifts to start wrapping!!!

Overwhelmed

Today, I'm sinking.

We've had a bump in the road with the house.

We've had an exciting week at work.

Little man is coughing his head off.

One of my best friends just gave birth to beautiful babies that I won't get to snuggle any time soon....

And today, I almost passed out in the driveway when my blood sugar dropped.

I'm a little at a loss for good blogging material.

Sorry about that.

Weekly Weigh-In: Pregnancy Update #4

This is getting difficult, ya'll.

I'm large.

Really, Really large.

My face looks like I am hiding water balloons in my cheeks.

And I don't even wanna talk about the size of my belly.

The good news?

I think I may be smaller than I was last time I was this pregnant.

The bad news?

I have no idea for sure.

And I have not met my weight loss goals.

I am 26 weeks pregnant.

Weighing in at 166.4.

Meaning I have gained about 28 lbs.

Just over my 1 lb. per week goal.

I hang my head in shame.

But not too low.  Because after all, I am still smaller than I was last pregnancy.

Or so I think.


In case you are interested in following my pregnancy weight, you can see previous installments here, here, and here.  Yeah, I'm pretty bad at this....

The Long Awaited Little Man Halloween

Come on, people. 

ACT excited, mkay?

Because seriously, our Little Shark is just too cute!

And yes, I've been in the south for almost 2 months...

And my hair is already bigger.

UGH.

But check out that kid's CHEESE!

Daddy was a pretty happy camper too.

Not gonna lie...

We're all pretty cool with free candy.

HOLD UP.

Free candy can wait, people!

Cause SOMEONE saw this...

And then, all systems were...

WOOOOOOOOOAH!

TRACTOR, MOMMY!!!

TRACTOR!!!

Forget the pumpkin!

TRACTOR!!!

Somehow, we did manage to drag the kid away long enough to move on to candy acquisition.

And you have already seen this pic....

Evidence that tt took the kid a little while to catch on...

He kept trying to give the candy back.

And then after a few minutes, when he figured out that people were giving stuff to him,

He couldn't understand why they kept dropping stuff in his bucket rather than handing it to him...

I HAVE HANDS, PEOPLE....

I tried my best to get him to say "Trick or Treat", but he was so excited

He just started walking up to people and saying "Tat yoo!"

Again, what's with the bucket, people?  

HANDS!!!  I DO HAVE THEM!

And just so this lady, didn't get confused where he wanted the candy...

He just walked right up to her and started digging through her bowl.

I'm sure if he hadn't been so freaked out at this next guy, he would have kept it up...

But as long as the people were willing to hand him the candy rather than messing with his bucket...

He was totally fine.

"Tat yoo!"

Happy Trick or Treating, Ya'll!!!

Helpful How-To: Prepping for Holiday Shopping

It's no secret that things might be a little tight for our Christmas this year, right?

If it was a secret before, let me blow it for you.

Things are going to be UBER tight this year for Christmas.

As in, there will probably be no Black Friday big ticket items this year.

But that doesn't mean that I am not Christmas shopping the most economical way possible....

Wanna hear what I'm doing to make the most of my money this year?

If not, you should probably stop reading now and go do something more useful with your time.

Like Googling "Kim Kardashian divorce" and join the rest of America in wondering if it was just a publicity stunt....

Or try to determine if Justin Beiber really did get a new puppy or not.

I have it on good authority he did not.

Wait.

What were we talking about?

Oh, right.

Christmas Shopping.

And my economic situation.

A.K.A.  Being Scrooge with my pocket book while being Tiny Tim with my gift giving.

I know, I know, I don't really know what it means, either.

Just keep reading.

1.  Swag, Swag, Swag.

People.

We've talked about it before.



Thanks to Swagbucks, I have managed to sock away almost $100 in Amazon Gift Cards over the last few months to help with Christmas shopping.

And for those of you who are like, "How on earth?"  I'll tell you.

Referrals - when you post the link to Facebook and get referrals, you can earn some major Swagbucks.

Searching - I do alot of my searching at random times of day.  Like if I wake up to go to the bathroom (that happens alot these days!!!) in the middle of the night.  I have the app on my phone and will usually only have to search once or twice to win some bucks.

Surveys - Here's where I cash in the most.  If you have access to a computer throughout the day, and you have time to check back at their site randomly, you can almost always find a survey or 2 that you will qualify for.  (Hint: make sure you complete your "survey profiles" so you are almost always pre-qualified for the surveys that are available to you...)

Freebies - These are the random onesies and twosies that you can get throughout the day.  Read the Swagbucks blog  for free swagcodes.  Fill out the daily poll.  And finally, click through the No Obligation Special Offers every day....

2.  Redeem Those Points.

For those of you who can be trusted with credit cards, you probably know that they can be major money makers for you.

Most credit cards offer some type of rewards programs.

And if yours is anything like mine, they occasionally have promotions (sales) on their rewards....

And if you are watching, you can earn yourself some really good deals when you hit those sales/promo's.

I.e., last week I scored $135 in free gift cards for Christmas shopping when my rewards program had some gift cards on sale.

Again, not alot of money, but momma can make it go a LOOOOOOOOOOOONG way.

Especially if I hit up some of my favorite stores....

Who happen to have amazing sales and (duhhhhhhhhhhhhh) COUPONS!

3.  Take advantage of the saving sites.

You know what I'm talking about....

Groupon.

Living Social.

Eversave.  (Today, they have a deal for a $50 Restaurant.com giftcard and a $25 Target gift card....  That's a really good deal!!!)

SaveMore.

In the past few months, I have gotten Amazon gift cards for half off, gift cards for free, as well as the Target deal that I mentioned above.

And I can only imagine that over the next few weeks, we will see an increase in discounted gift cards as suppliers are trying to ramp up for holiday sales...

Be ready to take advantage!

4.  Shop the Big Sales!

I know, I know.  It's a given.

But we are {eagerly} approaching one of the best season for sales all year long.

And some of the best sales are before Black Friday.

(I will never forget the year that Walmart offered laptops for $199 two weeks before Black Friday.  My mom stood in line and bought 5 of them, then turned around and sold them on Ebay thus making enough money to pay for Christmas.  Just saying...)

Just stay alert.

Keep in touch with websites like Dealcatcher and TGIBlackFriday to stay informed of the deals.

And yes, gear up for the big day.



You gotta be prepared if you are gonna get the best deals!!!

The Antics of a Spooktacular Weekend...

I think we all know how much I ADORE Halloween in all of its frightfulness.

And I was determined that pregnancy was not going to slow us down this year.

For the first time in YEARS, we went to a legit Halloween party with costumes and a theme and everything.

(Yes, Mom, the cigarettes are TOTALLY fake...just for the costumes...)

Is anyone else shocked by how round my face already is???

Lovely, right?

24 weeks, baby.

This was the whole gang.

Not sure if you've picked up on it yet, but it was a 20's themed party.

Murder Mystery at that....

I didn't do it.

I was obviously very distraught by the death...

But then, I ended up "dead" by the end of the evening as well...

Lucky for me, I am very resilient and managed to revive myself for some photo op's...

The boys literally look like they stepped out of the 20's...

And we girls...

Well...what can I say?

Except for a good time was had by all...

And about 20 minutes after this picture was taken...

Techy was asleep on the sofa.

We are soooooooooo old.

And lest you think we are the worst parents ever, we weren't the only ones having fun this year...

We took Little Man out Sunday night and last night for a little well wishing.

I promise more pics to come from Little Man's trick or treating, but I can't miss the opportunity to brag...

My child is already giving back to his society....

Clearly he is either prepping for the Ministry,

Or a life in politics.

I don't know whether to be delighted or terrified.

Stop by later for an update on Little Man's Halloween Festivities....